November 17th at 7:00 p.m. in Wescoe 3140

Please join the Department of Health, Sport, and Exercise Sciences for the premiere of "The Forgotten Coach," a documentary about the life of KU legend and pioneer John McLendon. The premiere is open to the public and will include comments from the producer and director of the documentary.

http://www.theforgottencoach.com/

ESPN commentator Fran Fraschilla was in Lawrence this week to observe basketball practice in Allen Fieldhouse. He heard about this initiative and cared so much about John McLendon he reached out to offer his help in promoting the award and speaker series. Here is a short video of Fran talking about what Coach Mac means to him: https://www.facebook.com/jordanrbass/posts/641644403248

In September, John McLendon was finally inducted in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach. Two of his grandchildren spoke about "Coach" and the impact he had. See their wonderful comments.

Thank you so much for visiting our John McLendon Leadership Award and Lecture Series page! McLendon is often referred to as the "Forgotten Jayhawk," we aim to begin to correct that with this award and speaker series. If you're interested in Coach Mac's story, there are a number of excellent resources I'll be posting over the coming weeks but here is an excellent story to get you started!

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From "Everybody Into the Pool: How the inventor of basketball and the father of the fast break beat segregation in the 1930s"

http://theclassical.org/articles/everybody-into-the-pool

"(McLendon) was a former lifeguard and an excellent swimmer, though, and he expected to ace the mandatory swimming test required for his degree. But when McLendon showed up at the on-campus pool to work out, he found it half empty. He was told it was drained every Wednesday.

McLendon came back on Thursday, and found the pool empty again. Nobody had told him the pool was segregated, perhaps because no colored student had tried to swim there before. The school’s passive-aggressive trick exposed a weakness he could exploit—a fear of direct confrontation. “You’re going to have a pretty big water bill,” McLendon told the attendant. “Because I’m going swimming every day.”

Faced with McLendon’s intransigence, university administration tried another indirect tack, offering to waive the swimming requirement based on his demonstrated proficiency as a former lifeguard. McLendon refused the poisoned fruit, adhering to his father’s insistence that he earn his degree by doing what everyone else did, while simultaneously flaunting his injunction against risking bodily harm."